Texas man who shot at cops serving warrant acquitted

Adrian Perryman was found not guilty of aggravated assault of a public servant for a 2010 shooting that took place inside his home

By Michelle Casady
San Antonio Express-News

SAN ANTONIO — Jurors who deliberated for 10 hours Tuesday determined that Adrian Perryman was not guilty of aggravated assault of a public servant for a 2010 shooting that took place inside his home as police were serving a search warrant.

They also found Perryman, 52, not guilty of a lesser charge of deadly conduct for firing four rounds at the group of officers he believed to be intruders.

Defense attorney Tony Jimenez told jurors during closing arguments Tuesday that his client, whose home had twice before been broken into, had been awakened by his frantic girlfriend, Rebecca Flores, and was acting on adrenaline when he shot.

"He was protecting his house, he was protecting Ms. Flores and he was protecting Savannah," he said, referencing the 3-year-old granddaughter of Flores who also was at the home the night of the October 2010 raid.

Though jurors never heard about the reasons for or results of the search warrant, police at the time reported finding methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and firearms in the home.

Prosecutors Steven Speir and Julie Wright argued that Perryman's in-home surveillance system would have given him ample warning of the police presence even if he hadn't heard the shouts of the nine officers yelling "Police! Search warrant!" as they broke down the door and entered the house.

"He was shooting straight at them," Wright said during closing arguments. "He certainly wasn't firing into the ceiling."

Perryman's former girlfriend, Flores, testified that she looked at the monitor the night of the raid as she came out of the shower and could only see two dark, shadowy figures crouched down outside the house before she ran to wake Perryman and handed him a gun, telling him burglars had returned to the home.

"I put my body over Savannah's," she said, recalling for jurors what she did in the moments after handing Perryman the gun and before he opened fire. "He said 'I've got a gun and I'm going to shoot -- stay out!'"

Flores said it wasn't until after he fired four shots that she heard anyone yelling "Police!"

"I remember telling him the police were here; I thought they were there to protect us. I said 'Oh, thank God,'" she said.

Perryman took the stand in his defense last week and told jurors how he had shouted a warning before he heard the front door go down and "unloaded" his gun.

"When I knew they were policemen, I lay down, face down," he said, adding he dropped the gun and began apologizing. "I kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was y'all. I've been broken into before.'"